I don't think the GB would have it announced to the R&F if they were hurting big time finacially. This would have a very negative effect and cause many more to leave, because it would be obvious Jehovah isn't blessing them.
Is the Watchtower hurting financially?
by truthseeker 58 Replies latest jw friends
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Mary
Another reason the WT may be hurting financially could be that the upper echelon might be diverting fund to private bank accounts.
Although this is possible, I would be quite shocked if this were happening. These guys are far more interested in controlling people's minds and lives than in "material possessions."
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Sunspot
This would have a very negative effect and cause many more to leave, because it would be obvious Jehovah isn't blessing them.
Could be. I see it another way. The WTS always has an answer for every occasion. Kind of like Hallmark (TM)
When things are going "well" and studies---baptisms---etc are "up", they say that Jah is blessing them
OTOH, when they hit a rough patch----they love to tell the blindsheep that Jah is "sifting and refining" the KHs because the end is so near.
All the bases are duly covered.
Annie
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Jourles
Here soon they will be forced to revise their explanation of "the love of the greater number is cooling off." Instead of pointing this to worldly people, they will have to use it to describe themselves. My guess is that whenever the first official results are released showing an actual decrease in JW's worldwide, they will be using this scripture at every opportunity.
FDS: You see! The bible prophesied this was going to happen all along!
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eyeslice
I just can't see that they are hurting financially. The model is such as they just can't lose money - they might not be making so much - hence the down sizing. Eyeslice
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greendawn
At the end of the day we can only speculate as regards the actual state of their finances simply because they keep everything so secret, who can tell the exact number and nature of assets they have globally and their income from properties, money in interest bearing accounts, stocks and shares, plus income from publications and donations.
What we know for sure is that they are a multi billion dollar business. -
Dogpatch
The real joke of this is that if the congregation orders "X" amount of materials and doesn't get back what they expect, or something close to it, the headquarters suspends delivery of all items (possibly other than the mags) until the congregation pays up. They actually send the congregation a invoice to my knowledge! Most literature counter MS know this. So they get their money regardless. Possibly fewer and fewer witnesses actually WANT the amassing piles of crap they produce. (And yes, I produced it once myself).
Randy
Net Soup!
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Dogpatch
from: http://www.freeminds.org/history/fraud.htm
Donation Arrangement Fraud
As was pointed out in the article, The Watchtower Way of Laundering Money, their current donation arrangement is simply a gimmick to avoid paying sales tax on items sold in the United States and a few other countries where this arrangement has been utilized. (Some countries still have fixed prices for Watchtower literature).
Apparently, their recent significant drop in income, coupled with the failure of rank-and-file Witnesses to donate funds sufficient to their liking for materials received "free" has caused the Watchtower to make the following statement in the November 1996 issue (p.3) of their in-house bulletin entitled Our Kingdom Ministry:
- Share With Others According to Their Needs
- Jehovah makes provision to fill our spiritual needs through the faithful "slave". (Matt 24:45-47) Many of these provisions are in the form of books, Bibles, bound volumes, videos, audiocassette recordings, and computer disks for Bible research. What Jehovah supplies is always sufficient without being wasteful. He expects us to share with one another, making sure that all benefit equally. All such provisions are produced at tremendous financial cost. These expenses are cared for by the worldwide brotherhood. This is especially true since the organization instituted the arrangement to distribute literature without charge, depending entirely on voluntary donations to cover the expense. Additionally, many branches obtain these provisions from the Society at a cost that enables the brothers to have what they need for meetings and field activity even though they have very limited material resources.
- How we can help. We can respond to Paul's admonition to share with others "according to their needs." (Rom 12:13) When we make financial contributions toward the worldwide work, we are directly sharing what we have with our brothers around the world. With this in mind, some have decided to set aside an amount to contribute to the worldwide work each month, just as they do for Kingdom Hall expenses. They recognize that these funds are used not only for literature production but for all facets of the work as well. Imagine the great benefit our worldwide brotherhood would experience if more would share in this way on a regular basis.
- Further, we can share with them by always being conservative when requesting items that are readily available to us. Ordering only what we actually need allows our brothers elsewhere to receive the spiritual provisions that they also need to keep strong and to advance the preaching of the good news in their part of the world.-Heb.13:16.
- We should especially bear this in mind when we request items that are produced at considerable expense to the Society. These include videos, CD-ROMs, large reference books, bound volumes and audiocassette subscriptions. Rather than requesting one item for each member of the household, could the entire family get along with just one? If we limit what we take for ourselves, it will allow others to obtain the same good things that we enjoy. -Phil. 2:4. The cost of literature that we place in the field may be offset in part by donations to the Society's worldwide work offered by us at the Kingdom Hall and by interested ones who accept it. However, when it comes to literature items we request for our personal use, including songbooks, Yearbooks, deluxe Bibles, and so forth, we cannot expect outsiders to care for our needs. Jehovah's dedicated servants are the primary source of this financial support. With that in mind, many publishers estimate what these items might cost if commercially produced and then they contribute accordingly. For example, a deluxe gold-edged Bible can easily cost $20 or more, a reference book may be $40 and up, a full-color wall calendar may sell for at least $5, an encyclopedia on CD-ROM costs from $50 to $100 or higher, music compact discs commonly cost close to $20 and some videos are often sold for much more. A failure to contribute enough to cover costs will ultimately restrict what the organization may otherwise be able to accomplish in furthering the worldwide work.
- Jesus declared that his true disciple would be clearly identified by their love for one another. (John 13:34, 35) Our generosity in giving materially and our unselfishness in sharing with other according to their needs are surely fine ways to prove ourselves to be genuine Christians.
- contributed by Sam Muramoto
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It is interesting how they have even "raised the price" of a number of items! They appear be suggesting a donation of $50-100 for the CD-ROM instead of $25 to $50, and $40 for reference works such as Insight on the Scriptures. Since their costs of producing CD-ROMs could not exceed two dollars each (probably closer to $1), one wonders who they are trying to deceive.
One investigator sent in a donation to the Watchtower "equivalent to that once specified" for some literature, just to see what would happen. A letter, and an additional card was sent back. The letter was a "thank you" letter acknowleding a donation, but containing no hint as to any literature involved. But the card sent with it stated, "We are pleased to inform you that your request for Bible literature has been honored and will be mailed seperately." (See laundering.) Using this technique, the WT feels they are going to avoid legal complications. Time will tell as to whether the State of California decides to reopen the case with regards to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. The following letter(s) illustrate the outworking of this policy.
I thought I'd tell you of an experience some years ago when I served as an elder in Jersey City, New Jersey, during the first month of the change from selling books to the "Voluntary Donation" system. It seemed everyone one and their mothers decided that now was a good time to stock their libraries. Pioneers were now doubling up on their magazines for service. Witnesses who rarely bought anything, were now ordering, the New World Translation on Tapes [which, when price sold for over $100.00] everything and anything was being ordered. I was in charge of the literature counter. The invoices included in the orders were now dollarless. Three months later, the elders received a letter from the Society. It basically stated that they [the Society] noticed an enormous increase in literature orders. That the congregation had made purchases of some $3,000.00 and our donations were only somehere around $500.00. They told us we [the congregation] owed the Society $2,300.00. I'm thinking to myself..."hey wait a minute, isn't the literature "FREE" on voluntary donations?" Obviously not! The Society had it all planned out. In the envelope was another letter, addressed to the congregation. That letter basically told of the great work the Society was doing and how support was needed.
In view of that I had announced that we [the congregation] were donating to the Society from the congregation fund $2,500.00 for the World Wide Work.
Clever of them? The Society still got their money. I wonder how many congregations got that letter? Of course only the body of elders knew the truth for sure, the rest of the friends were left to believe we were so loving and generous by supporting the Society with such a big donation. Mind you no mention of the excess literature order was made.
How can they sleep at nights? It was situations like these that opened my mind to the true nature of the Society. They are a publishing house...we are their salesmen...what was that the Judge said "Advertise, Advertise, Advertise..." Nothing has changed!
In His Name!
the address of the congregation:
Jersey City West Congregation
582 Bramhall Avenue
Jersey City,NJ 07304 -
lilybird
Well, they are possibly hurting financially from publisher donations, but they do get some financial relief from older ones who have willed all their worldly possessions to the society....... I have seen my in-law's will... They are leaving $100,000 first to the society before any of their children see a penny. Also my husbands aunt owns prime vacation land in the carribean where she lives and rents out rooms to vacationers. It is oceanfront land. It is all willed to the society as she was a good pioneer sister and never married or had kids..... ..I am sure there are many more like them out there who are leaving everything to the society to buy their place in the New System.
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garybuss
Elsewhere, You wrote:Garybus,
I read through that Friend of the Court document and I noticed that one of their main concerns was that each and every individual JW would be required to file with the county and get a license to do business, keep accounting records and file taxes every quarter. They would all literally have to run their own individual businesses.
Here in Dakota reimbursements are not subject to taxation. When I buy a book on Amazon, I'm not charged any tax, and if I drop it off at your house and you reimburse me, there's no tax due on that. If I go to the corner Barnes and Nobles and pick up a book and pay tax, deliver it to your house and you reimburse me, there's no tax due.
Every employee of Barnes and Nobles doesn't have to get a sales tax license. They only have one per business. If Witnesses are really wanting to be in the door to door sales business, the most they would have to get is one tax license per congregation. The Society could just sell everything wholesale and simply submit sales tax on their direct sales such as those in their book store.
Sales tax by companies selling books such as Amazon just let their computers calculate sales tax collected and once a month they sent off a check to the state(s). No big deal.
Here in Dakota we are in agricultural country and lots of farm machinery. Farmers buy gas minus the road tax because they don't use the tractor fuel on the roads. To misrepresent it's use and apply for a farm fuel tax refund on fuel used on the highway is a crime.
This is what the Witnesses are doing with the sales of literature. They are committing sales tax fraud. I think the Society is in DEEP trouble if some brave insiders step up to the plate and tell the authorities how the Watch Tower Society's sales tax fraud scam works. Every other problem they ever had before this will pale by comparison.
